Lectures don't work

Lectures are usually a pretty bad way to help professionals learn something.  In fact, most of the evidence points to the fact that for professional continuing education, they don't really have much of an effect at all on either learning or on subsequent changes in practice that we often expect from CME programs. 

If you want to find out more about what has worked, and what hasn't worked in CME programs, The best single reference I've found is this JAMA review paper from about 10 years ago, I consider it a must-read for anyone involved in CME.  The authors looked at published studies of CME activities and the measured outcomes.  It's a very good read, but the bottom line is simply this - didactic instruction does not change physician behavior.  What does change physician practice behavior?  Giving people the chance to practice their skills and get feedback is one of the methods that seemed to work the best.   

Having professionals sit and listen to a presentations isn't always a negative.  If you want to give people information about a topic, or give them a broad overview, didactic instruction isn't necessarily a bad way to do it.  Where lectures don't work though, is when you want people to develop, or use, complex knowledge or skills.  This is pretty well accepted by most people in education but it doesn't seem to be widely known by others.